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This challenge will appeal to those who perhaps do not have as much time to play as they would like, or do not have a high specification PC. Having said that, there is scope for a very long and challenging game here.

British and Indian football:
It is now more than 60 years since India became independent of British rule. Britain's legacy is, of course, still huge*. However, in the sporting world only cricket has managed to capture the imagination of the Indian nation. Yet, India is home to the third oldest football tournament, the Durand Cup (after the English and Scottish FA Cups).

Of course, the Indian people have also had an equally deep impact upon British culture. Yet, sadly, I do not believe that there are any Indian players that are playing top flight football in England (or for that matter Scotland or any of the other British leagues).

To add to the above, England, who gave the game (at least as we know it) to the world, have not qualified for the European Championships 2008 and are currently the laughing stock of Europe! None of the other home nations qualified meaning that the British will have no meaningful competition to play in this summer.

These are wrongs that must be put right! And guess what? YOU are the man to do it!

Summary of the challenge:

The challenge is separated into four parts with the main goals being to -

1) Improve Indian club football by having success, both domestically and in Asian competition, with an Indian club side.

2) Capture the imagination of India by taking on the national job and steering them towards the knock-out stages of a major international tournament.

3) Move to your chosen home league (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) and establish a side of British players capable of winning the league title and Champions League, while also continuing in your role as an ambassador for Indian football and promoting their players.

4) Take on one of the home nation manager jobs and lead them to glory at the World Cup or European Championships.

THE CHALLENGE - Full Details:

LEVEL 1 – BRINGING THE BEAUTIFUL GAME TO THE SUBCONTINENT

Begin by creating a manager with a British or Indian nationality (i.e. English, Scottish, Wales, Northern Irish or Indian). Where possible, this should be your true nationality, however I am willing to accept any combination of British and Indian nationalities you desire.

Select the following leagues - India (NFL), and your chosen ‘home’ league, which matches with your nationality, e.g. England (EPL only).
In the case of being of Indian nationality, you can choose any of the home nations you desire).

Retain all Indian, English, Scottish, Welsh and N.Irish players.

Start the game in India, which is one of the most exciting, huge and beautiful countries in the world. Here you have a chance to make your mark in a nation without a footballing tradition - so make your own history.

Holiday for one season and then select one of the newly promoted Indian club sides as your starting base. You must honour your first contract at this club. However, once you have finished your first contract you can consider jumping ship to one of the bigger Indian sides where you may have more success in attaining your goals.

To complete the level you must win two consecutive Indian Football League titles.
You must also have won the oldest football competition in Asia, the Durand Cup, and the Asian club football tournament, the AFC Cup .

LEVEL 2 - THE INDIAN NATIONAL GAME

You must have won at least one Indian Football League title before beginning this level.

The idea is a simple one - wait for the Indian national job to become available, apply for it and then make them successful.

Here you have the opportunity to give the national side a style and philosophy to reflect the wonderful nation of India. They say that national football styles reflect their socio-cultural environment. What will be the style of India?

The traditions of India are diverse, so perhaps you will choose to reflect the poetic and philosophical nature of India's history by playing with an attractive and romantic style. Or will you attempt to force you tactical philosophy upon the players? The choice is yours.

The goal here is to qualify for an international tournament, i.e. the World Cup or Asian Cup, and then get past the initial group stages and into the knock-out rounds. Anything else here is a bonus.

LEVEL 3 - RETURNING HOME

This level must not be attempted until level 1 is complete.

Here you have the opportunity to return home in a blaze of glory after having success in Asia. You will now manage in your chosen home nation, which could be the English Premiership, Scottish Premiership, Welsh or Northern Irish football leagues.
Your arrival in Britain might be rather like that of Arsene Wenger's arrival at Arsenal - you will be an obscure manager who has had success in Asia and wishes to bring his knowledge to the British game.

Both the EPL and SPL are awash with foreign superstars these days but you are not going to involve yourself in that. You are returning to Britain to get rid of Johnny Foreigner and win with British players.
However, do not forget that you also return as an ambassador for Indian football. You must also promote Indian players and bring through the first successful Indian player in your chosen home country.

You may take over at any club you like. A bigger club may give you more funds to bring in the British and Indian talent you require, however the pressure for success may make it impossible for you to embark upon a transitional period. A smaller Premiership side may give you greater opportunity to build up a British and Indian side but it may take much longer. The choice is yours.

The goal is to win the Premiership and the Champions League with ONLY British players (i.e. English, Scottish, Welsh, N. Irish) and as many Indian players in the squad as possible – however, you MUST have at least ONE regular Indian starter.

LEVEL 4 – BRING FOOTBALLING GLORY TO BRITAIN

This must obviously be attempted after completion of the LEVEL 2 Indian national team challenge.

The goal is simple - take your chosen national team to glory at a major tournament. If you fail with your first national team you may try again with another home nation that is not your nationality.

Suggestions and Clarifications:

I suggest English (or Scottish), however you can play in any BRITISH league system, i.e. EPL, SPL, Welsh football league, Northern Irish football league - it is your choice but the objectives remain the same. Remember that picking Welsh or Norn Iron leagues would make success in Europe extremely difficult indeed. The deepest respect would go to anyone who managed to complete level 3 or 4 with a Welsh or Northern Irish side/national team.

Equally, when taking control of a national team, ANY British side is acceptable. This adds another element because, for instance, if you fail to win anything with your chosen home nation and you get sacked then you could have another go at winning a major tournament with one of the other home nations.

Regarding Work Permits, I would advise that the idea of the game is to get as many Indian players as is possible. But you MUST have at least ONE Indian player who is featuring as a regular in your first XI to meet with the requirements of promoting footballers from your adopted nation (i.e. India).

I would accept any combination of British or Indian nationalities. HOWEVER, I would advise that the gamer selected his true nationality where possible.

There is no restriction on moving clubs – the only exception being during your first contract with the newly promoted Indian club, which you must honour.

There are no restrictions on assigning feeder/parent clubs.

To sign a player you must scout them first. No external utilities such as FMScout should be used.

The database should be unedited and people should be using the latest SI released patch 8.0.2.

Rules for this Thread (mostly stolen and plagiarised from Dafuge – sorry mate!)

Player naming is allowed. (This is a warning for those of you who do not wish to see this)

Discussion on tactics is allowed. (This is another warning for those of you who do not wish to see this)

Screenshots for anything are encouraged but not required.

When you join the challenge, you could post a screenshot of your manager's profile – not absolutely necessary though, I am happy to just have some details about your manager.

Progress of your management career and attempt to achieve the four levels of this challenge should be documented using this thread. I want to hear the story of your career and your achievements all the way through.

Please keep us updated, even if you are doing really badly. You probably won’t be doing as badly as me! Seriously, I am rubbish at this game!

At the end of every season, could everyone post some kind of season review - screenshots are encouraged but not required.

Good luck and I hope you have fun with this challenge.

C.

* - Please note that this challenge does not intend to offer any kind of commentary on the rights and wrongs of empire and imperialism. It is just a bit of fun and aims to respect and admire Indian culture.

28 April 2008: It was decided that using all of the professional leagues in the British half of the challenge, e.g. in England: the EPL, Championship, League One and League Two, would enable an easier transition to English football after level 1 has been completed. Furthermore, by using additional leagues, the manager will be able to better utilise feeder clubs and loan players to lower division clubs when attempting to promote his all British / Indian team.

This is not mandatory but given as an option to those who feel that they would like to run the additional leagues in their chosen British league structure.

This challenge now accepts professional feeder divisions in addition to the top flight league.

rtik-1-one: I look forward to hearing about your attempt at the challenge when you enter.

A few further points that have occured to me since writing the opening post:

- Database size can be whatever you like.

- The Indian season is organised between 14th-15th July so you will need to holiday to just before this date (suggest 13th) in order to start your game.

- Some of the sides who come up already have managers and therefore you will need to replace them manual rather than applying for the job through the game. Just check through the history of each club and you will easily be able to work out which ones are new.

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:
[- Some of the sides who are promoted at the end of the first season already have managers and therefore you will need to replace them manually rather than applying for the job through the game.

Just check through the history of each club and you will easily be able to work out which ones are newly promoted .

So, it seems logical that the two sides that will be promoted after your year of holiday will be those from the second tier of the Indian football league. So, below are listed the potential sides that you could be managing:

I have only done a few test runs but so far it is just these teams that are coming up.

There are some deliciously weird names for football teams in India, with the commercial mixing with the just plain strange.
Already the New Delhi Heroes are standing out for me. I think this is who I will start my game with.

Wikipedia has links to all of the clubs with lots of detail so you can get really into your game. I advise looking on there before choosing your team!

Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), in the state of West Bengal, is considered to be the home of Indian football. The city contains the two most famous Indian teams East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan AC. Derbies between these two clubs often draw crowds around the 120,000 mark.

Recently Goan clubs have been doing very well in the I-league. Dempo FC are the defending champions.

HISTORY OF FOOTBALL IN INDIA

Football in India was spread during the days of the British Empire. Many football clubs in India were created during this time, and pre-date many of the organisations and clubs, such as FIFA, which are predominant in the game today. Initially games were played between army teams, however clubs were soon set up around the country. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club was set up in what is now West Bengal in 1889. The club became famous in 1911 when it became the first Indian team to lift the IFA Shield, a tournament previously won only by British teams based in India. It defeated the Eastern Yorkshire Regiment 2-1 in the final of the tournament in a victory that is still regarded by many as the greatest by an Indian team before Independence.

The national football team was also quite successful until the 1970s, qualifying for Olympic tournaments and the FIFA World Cup. The team qualified for the 1950 World Cup finals in Brazil, but could not appear as they still played in their bare feet at that time.

The Indian team also won the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games gold medals in football. In 1956 the team finished fourth at the Melbourne Olympics. In August 2007, the Indian team won the Nehru Cup for the first time in its history beating Syria 1-0.[2]

With a population of more than 1bn one might expect India to be among the world's footballing superpowers.
But India is not even one of the leading teams in Asia, ranked a lowly 28th behind relative minnows such as the Maldives, a tiny chain of islands off its southern coast with a population of just 318,000.

As Leicester prepare to host East Bengal in a friendly designed to boost the game's profile in the sub-continent, BBC Radio World Football's Mike Geddes investigates why India lags behind its larger neighbours.

Most Indian kids have a passion for football but there are not the qualified coaches at the grass roots level to help them

India captain Baichung Bhutia
Domestic football in India is far more popular than domestic cricket, and many teams in the country's National Football League trace their origins back to the 1880s, when the game was introduced by British colonials.

Indeed, league football was being played in Calcutta long before Real Madrid or the world governing body Fifa even existed.

The country qualified regularly for the Olympics until the 1960s, and were invited to the 1950 World Cup in Brazil but the problems of a long sea journey and the fact that they still played in bare feet prevented them from appearing.

Now, ranked 143rd in the world, unable to qualify for the ongoing Asian Cup let alone the World Cup, those days are distant history.

Englishman Steven Constantine, who coaches the national team, says the problem is the lack of a proper grass-roots infrastructure.

"You see kids playing football in the street with no shoes everywhere in this country but there's no development at youth level. That, and coach education, are reasons why we are not as advanced as we should be.

"It's slowly changing but until the clubs do more to develop their youth. Its difficult for me to scour the countryside looking for players for the U17 and U19 sides.

Streets kids in Delhi play in a homeless league
"We have 25 states but only two or three are doing anything with any success to develop youth."

Calcutta, capital of East Bengal, is the spiritual home of football in India, and it's also home to one of the biggest derbies in the world.

In 1997 more than 130,000 people packed the Salt Lake stadium to see the game between East Bengal and Mohan Bagan, whose rivalry matches that of Celtic and Rangers in Glasgow.

One man who knows all about that rivalry having played for both sides is East Bengal's Baichung Bhutia, captain of the national team and the undisputed superstar of Indian football.

Bhutia echoes Constantine's comments.

"I was lucky in that I got a scholarship due to football and we had coaches in school, but it wasn't the same as European kids get. Most Indian kids have this passion but without the qualified coaches at the grass-roots level.

"If only they could catch players at a young age because I definitely see a lot of talent here - even more talented than English players at a young age."

Today football is nominally under the control of the All India Football Federation, and its president Priya Ranjan DasMunshi, a committee-based body funded by Fifa.

India's youth coaching set-up is haphazard
But national youth football is traditionally controlled by a different body - the Sports Authority of India - which gets no money from Fifa.

Hindustan Times journalist Jaydeep Basu says this makes it difficult to implement a successful youth development programme because the people who run football are politicians, not professionals.

"The problem is the AIFF is amateur. It is of politics. I can name people in Indian football who are secretary or treasurer of different state associations who have been there for 40 years.

"So for them holding onto power is the main issue. Improving the game is never the issue. So you need a set up for professionalism. Indian football never had a set up of that kind.

"There was a time when India were twice Asian Games champions.

"But now the power base has shifted to Japan and Korea or the middle-eastern countries - Iran, Qatar, Saudi.

"India has failed to keep up with the professionalism that has been ushered into Asian football in the last 25 years."

Not surprisingly, DasMunshi rejects criticisms of the set-up - and says he has his sights on a World Cup qualification by 2010.

"Football should be managed by the chief executives of marketing or training. This is professionalism.

Facilities are poor
"That set up we will complete within six months. If I am the president and I have a professional chief executive and coach we have only to decide policy but the execution should be done professionally.

"The fact remains that we did not improve our youth development facilities since 1974.

"Though at some time in Asian level our youth development programme gained some momentum it fizzled out because of lack of club infrastructure in the country apart from Calcutta.

"So we have taken up the national youth development programme as priority for the last eight years. I'm very confident that we have launched a mission that India must appear in 2010."

There is no doubt the amount of untapped potential is huge.

In Delhi, there is even a league - the Street League - for homeless kids, set up by aid workers.

"There are 5,000 children who live on Delhi railway station," said Street League coach Bill Adams, of the privately-run India Youth Soccer Association.

"It was not hard to get a few of them to come along for training.

"That's where the really hungry players will be. So they're now getting cared for by these charities and we're giving them the chance to break out of this poverty.

"We find our street kids are 200% more determined to do well in football."

Could India be similar to Brazil?

So much untapped talent and with the top sides of Calcutta getting gates of 120,000, the potential is certainly there.

Originally posted by Sidnv:
I'm indian so i will definitely take up this challenge.

And yes it is sad that India has such potential to in football but it isnt tapped.

Nice one Sidnv

Part of the reason I thought of this challenge was that I have been reading a lot about the history of India. As a result I have become more and more interested in the arts, culture and philosophy of such an incredible and diverse country. So the idea of an FM career in India really captured my imagination.

Originally posted by Sidnv:
Is it possible to be manager of a nation and club at the same time if you apply for the nation not be approached for the job.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by this.

According to the challenge rules, you have to win at least one Indian league title before applying for / accepting the Indian national team job. This is for the purposes of realism as the India manager job would only be available to someone with some kind of success or proven track record.

You can manage a club side at the same time as a national side.

I hope this answers your question?

I really like the first half of the challenge. I want to try to help India reach some glory in a world cup or Asian cup.
So it would take a long time for me to get to the 2nd part of this challenge.

Yes, I think it will take quite a while to achieve the challenge. I see it as being four 'mini-challenges' in one really.
However, remember that the Indian seasons are short and quick to get through (only 18 league games). Plus, your manager reputation (which should be set to automatic when starting the game incidentally) will shoot up as soon as you take over at an Indian club. Typically, it will go up to at least regional. So as soon as you have won an Indian title, you can go for the Indian job (level 2) as soon as it becomes available.

Also how long would it take to go on holiday so that i can start this game?

It was quick for me - I left the room for about 30mins and when I came back it was done. I have found the game super fast due to the low amount of processing required in the Indian league plus one of the British leagues.

I have decided to give this a crack beacause I dont have that much time to play a challenge so this panned out perfectly with the low number of games. I have also never managed in India and it looks quite an interesting prospect!

I started with New Delhi Heros last night - mainly because of their classy name.
I had no staff and about 6 first teamers and 9 youth players.

First job was signing up staff, which was no problem. I then sent out my scouts to find as much talent as possible and guess what? Everyone they find gets 1 star! All of the players they have found that could potentially sign for me, they say 'I should avoid signing'. Challenge and a half this. I should mention that I have no transfer budget either.

So far I have signed up about 10 players, all of whom my scouts give a score of 1 star (or 2 if I am lucky). I have signed up players based on their determination, work rate and team work. I plan to have a team of hard working players who might battle out a few results. But it's looking ominous. This is going to be harder than I thought!

In addition to this, there is a consortium attempting to buy New Delhi Heroes at present and they have been suggesting that they would replace me a manager if they buy the club!
All this before I have even played a game. This might be a very short stay at New Delhi Heroes.

The most difficult thing to come to terms with is the transfer window, which opens in October for some reason. This means that I have to cope with my existing players for the first few games of the season. Then, after a game or two, I will have about 10 or 12 players joining on frees. I think team cohesion is going to be at an all time low and with only 18 league games there won't be long to get them playing together.

All in all, I am up against it! I have a feeling that this going to be an excellent challenge. I haven't even played a game yet.

I just hope that consortium doesn't sack me, otherwise I might be holidaying until another job comes up!

C.

P.S. I am out all day today but will report again tonight when I get a chance to play my first game.

Originally posted by Sidnv:
What i meant was can you apply for a natiional job and not get sacked as club manager?

Yes - this is how it has always been in CM / FM and it is the same for FM08 as far as I know.

And what if you get sacked in your first season with the newly promoted club.

Under the rules of the challenge, you must honour your first contract with your first club. So if they sack you, then you have honoured your part of the deal. Therefore, you can holiday until a job becomes available and just take any one you want.

Yes, me too.
Barely any decent players available to a newly promoted club. The big sides seem to have one or two quality players each but at the lower end of the league the standard is very poor. I think it's around English Conference level at the worst. One or two players in the big sides look like they would be average Engish Championship - just for comparative purposes. So I think the challenge of level 3 in trying to promote an Indian player (or more than one, preferably) in a British league will be very challenging.

Currently I can only scout India, therefore as per the rules I am only signing players based in India.

It's a good challenge. My plan is to try and stay in the league, then see if I can consolidate next season.

Originally posted by Scoham:
Surely its going to be almost impossible to get a job if you load only the EPL? Can you improve your rep enough by only managing in India and the Indian national side?

I thought long and hard about this one and concluded that if you win the Asian Cup (continental club competition) and manage the Indian national team, you should be able to build up a decent enough world reputation. One of the challenges is to take India to the World Cup finals or the Asian Cup finals - if you do this and have a good run, you should really push your reputation up.

This remains to be proved - however, I would think that if your reputation is not quite high enough by that point, you could keep playing and eventually push it higher through Asian inter-continental club success and Indian international progress. It might add to the challenge but I imagine you should get there in the end.

A year later and after changing chairman, Vasco hire me again, this time with a £170k transfer budget

It will only be of good use if I save the team from relegation. There are two matches left and we are one point ahead of HASC. Our next game is away agianst them so we need at least a draw. Will carry on tomorrow morning and let you know if I managed to survive!

after a season on holiday, i have taken charge of new delhi heroes. i have told the board i will avoid relegation, and have a wage budget of 6k per week. i have hired an assistant manager, 2 coaches, a youth coach, a physio and 2 scouts. Think the board are not going to be happy with me!

Corinthiano - Congratulations on avoiding relegation and good luck next season. It looks like you have a couple of decent players there.

I am just sitting down to have a proper go with New Delhi Heroes now. My problem is that the club is currently under the process of a takeover and the new owners don't want me as manager according to the media. Furthermore, they have put a ban on signing up players while this is being undertaken. This means that I can't even offer some of my grey players a contract for the purposes of fielding a full side. Instead, I am going to be playing midfielders in defence and defenders up front!

I just hope this consortium have taken over the club, or the situation is sorted out, by the time the transfer window comes around. Otherwise all of my planned signings won't go through and I would have no chance of beating the drop.

I had the same situation in my first season with Vasco, although I was lucky to already have signed a few players before the embargo came up! I was lucky at the time as the takeover fell through, otherwise they would have appointed another man in charge.

Ok, so I figured I'd try tihs one. Holidayed one season and got a team named United Sports Club of Kolkata, playing in the huge Salt Lake stadium. They don't seem to be on your list, Crouch, and I can't find anything about them anywhere. Anyone know anything about them? They're valued at only €35K so obviously not the biggest side around.

Early signs are looking ominous. I just lost my first game in charge 4-0 against the side who are predicted to finish 8th. However, I was forced to play with only one natural defender, no wide players and a poor excuse for a striker.

Originally posted by taifun:
Ok, so I figured I'd try tihs one. Holidayed one season and got a team named United Sports Club of Kolkata, playing in the huge Salt Lake stadium. They don't seem to be on your list, Crouch,

The full name for this club appears to be CHIRAG UNITED SPORTS CLUB.
They are on my list as Chirag United.

I can't find out anything about them though. Did a Wikipedia and Google search but nothing much came up.

A question for those who are playing with clubs who have huge stadiums - what is your average attendance?

But my team are still pretty crap. And a broken leg ruling out one of my best players means we're second from bottom after 8 games, with just 3 points. Although in fairness, we have has some terribly unlucky results, including a 94th minute own goal to lose 2-1 which would put Riise to shame!

Originally posted by Gypsum:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by corinthiano:
With 40 000 you must be making a lot of money!! Had an average of 15 000 with Vasco and they made over £500k in two seasons so you ll be a millionaire soon!!

The bank balance started at around £30,000. Now it's a shade under £1,000,000. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by taifun:
Ok, so I figured I'd try tihs one. Holidayed one season and got a team named United Sports Club of Kolkata, playing in the huge Salt Lake stadium. They don't seem to be on your list, Crouch,

The full name for this club appears to be CHIRAG UNITED SPORTS CLUB.
They are on my list as Chirag United.

I can't find out anything about them though. Did a Wikipedia and Google search but nothing much came up.

A question for those who are playing with clubs who have huge stadiums - what is your average attendance?

C. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, I sort of figured after not finding Chirag anywhere in-game. So far I've not played any home games, but season-ticket sales aren't promising. 28 ST's for a 120K stadium!

My Federation Cup performance left me slightly optimistic. A penalty shootout win over Viva Kerala was followed by a close 0-1 loss to Mohamadan. Reality came calling in the first league game though, as the exact same Viva Kerala side thrashed us 5-0.
Transfer market looke ok, managed to sign Mahindra Utd striker Manjit Singh on a free after my scouts recommended him highly. A number of young free-transfers joined as well, including 16-year old left winger Norbert Babu who looks really special. Still need a proper goalie though, and central midfield looks lightweight

Originally posted by corinthiano:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gypsum:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by corinthiano:
With 40 000 you must be making a lot of money!! Had an average of 15 000 with Vasco and they made over £500k in two seasons so you ll be a millionaire soon!!

The bank balance started at around £30,000. Now it's a shade under £1,000,000. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You lucky git </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can adjust the budgets to give me a £250,000 transfer kitty. Not that there's anyone decent to spend it on, and the transfer window is a bitch, but it's nice to have!

I'm just going to invest in youth and training facilities while hopefully avoiding relegation this season.

By the way, the game against HASC was the first time that many of my starting XI had seen each other. The team report says that they are 'some way short of acting well as a unit'. I've not seen that before. I have a feeling that lack of team cohesion could be a deciding factor for me this season.

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:
It might have been a bad decision! I just lost my first home game of the season 1-0 to Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club. Hit the bar once and created 10 chances but my forwards are awful.

Oh and my attendance was 379 for the game against HASC - my 15,000 stadium was empty!

C.

First home game against Vasco, 509 people in the worlds second largest stadium. Can't get much worse. Oh, so far 3-0-1-2, no goals for, eight against. A scoreless draw in the Vasco game the real highlight so far....

I am still without a win 13 games in to the season, 5 points behind the team just outside the relegation zone. And my next three games are against the three teams above me, in decending order! If i'm going to pick up a win this season, it has to be now. Otherwise it's over!

My average attendance is 44,396! 14,000 a week more than the league's second place side. Amazing considering the absolutely awful football we play. The Indian fans must have that gallows humour like us Brits!

Beat Dempo 4-3 in front of 36,378 fans at the Salt lake stadium. Went 1-0 down, a brace from Olushola Ogundare brought it back to lead 3-1, then we let it slip to 3-3 before my player of the season so far, 16 year old Rashed Khan netted a screamer of a volley from the edge of the area!

As it stands I am sitting in 9th please with 7 points, 2 behind JCT and 1 ahead of Oil India. And my next games are against those sides in that order. It's going to be interesting...

Lost 6-1 to my local rivals (they play in the same stadium) and 2nd placed side Mohun Bagan. But still sit 1 point ahead of JCT. Last game of the season I play the side one place above me, and JCT face champions East Bengal!

I've also managed to sign a couple of the division's top players, so we had better not get relegated.

I am sure you would be able to buy the best players in the league if you wanted to now...

I've already signed one of last seasons best strikers Okolie, and defender Manju. Only the very best players tuned me down. When I get my next transfer budget i'll be trying to sign them again. I've also got the board to agree to improve youth and training facilities which, considering the impact a couple of youth players have had for me this season, could be very important.

Well, I finished my first season and it was a complete failure - I told you guys I was rubbish at this game!

The real issue for me was the transfer embargo at the start of the season, which ruined my preparation. In addition to this, I started out with about 6 first team players and 9 youth players (5 of which were goalkeepers, helpful ‘eh?)

I found very little talent to bring to the club. With no transfer budget, finding players was tough. To be honest, I did some panic buying at the last minute due to the transfer embargo and the fact that I didn’t know if I would still be in a job because the new owners were talking about bringing in their own man.

I signed up players based on their determination, work rate and team work. Also, I moved to sign up any Indian youth players, or Indian players with international caps, with no club. As a result, I ended up with a bunch of youngsters with no physical abilities and a bunch of oldies with no physical abilities either!

My scouts were the least helpful ever. Most of the players they found were rated 1 star or 2 stars at the most. They found me two players with 3-4 stars, who looked talented and I snapped them up. I also tried to rush through the signing of two talented youngsters from rival clubs on free transfers. Regrettably, neither of them signed - they pulled out at the last minute.

I started the season poorly with the side not having had time to gel. Six straight defeats was very depressing and I lost two games against my relegation rivals. My team gelling was awful though, with the assistant telling me that the side was ‘some way short of acting well as a unit'! I have never seen this description before. I think it really had a huge effect on results.

Stamina was also a huge problem as the side kept conceding goals late on, i.e. the last 10 minutes. I think I lost at least 7 or 8 points because of this – I always went to close the game and switch to a very defensive set up, but my lads couldn’t keep the opposition out... and that, ladies and gents, is the difference between a side that stays up and a side that goes down.

For a while I thought we had a chance of staying up. A few good wins (scoring 3 goals!) against HASC and JCT and some really improved performances were exciting me. But the strikers were awful at finishing and the defence was always too weak.

I think the turning point of the season was, after a few decent results, a home game against Churchill Brothers. We were two up at half-time but they always looked strong. Once again, my lads just couldn’t hold on and they conceded a silly goal. So we were 2-1 up and the ref indicated SIX minutes of time added on. Of course, they went to all out attack and I put everyone behind the ball. They still scored. That was hard to swallow, especially as a win would have lifted us out of the relegation zone.

So my first attempt at this challenge has resulted in a relegation and a sacking.
I would blame this on the takeover and the resultant transfer embargo, the lack of players at the club when I arrived and the lack of team gelling. Indeed, the latter played a huge part, because the team spent the whole season on ‘some way short of acting well as a unit'. Only towards the last 3 or 4 games did they switch to ‘do not yet have a good understanding’, which is also a new one for me – I haven’t seen either of these before.

Although I blame the circumstances at the club for my failure, I also made some absolutely crap signings and it is a wonder that I won any games at all! The scouts didn’t find me anything worthwhile and I struggled to sign anyone decent.

Despite my failure, I still enjoyed the season and I will be trying again with a new club.
Unfortunately, after holidaying for a few years, only one job has come up in India and I didn’t get it! So I am afraid that I will be starting the challenge all over again tonight.

I would have loved this challenge to have been up a few months ago because i have a save in India.

I took over East Bengal and after 8 years i had the best facilities you can get, a striker that scored 40 in the league (yes 40!) and were the 25th richest club in the world.

In that time i also took over the India national team, who have struggled because there arent many good regens that come through, however, some have been premiership quality. Being dominant in everything and winning the Asian Champions League 5 years running (mainly due to not having to play in the group stages after winning the previous year) i thought that moving on to another team was the only option i could take.

I chose to apply to newly promoted SC Goa who had been relegated in my first season and never been back, from there i have played one season and finished 6th, the aim of course is to get them the best facilities, then move on again and again so that every team in india is amazing.

If you have any queations about the future of the teams you have taken over i would be happy to assist.

And i was just wondering if i would be able to post my progress (if i get the time) in this thread?

Having thought about the challenge and, in particular, the level 3 and 4 part of it, I have been thinking of making a slight alteration to the rules regarding the current setup of the game for this challenge. I would like your opinion about my idea.

The idea is to allow the use of all of the professional leagues in the British half of the challenge, e.g. in England, the EPL, Championship, League One and League Two.

The reasons for this are the following:

1) This would allow an easier transition to English football for those beginning level 3. You could choose to continue building up your reputation in India, both at club and international level. Alternatively, you could decide to move to England/Scotland outside the top league and attempt to build up your reputation that way.

2) This would also allow the manager to better utilise feeder clubs and loan players to lower division clubs. I think this would be particularly useful when attempting to build an all British / Indian team. Having the lower leagues would enable you to send youth players down a few divisions for experience and perhaps you might be able to better improve the players this way.

This would not be mandatory but given as an option to those who felt that they would like to run the additional leagues in their chosen British league structure.

I would accept any selection of British professional leagues. For example, the user could just select EPL and Championship, or even just EPL.

For those who have already started the game with EPL only, for instance, there would be no need to restart the challenge.

I didn’t intend to make any rule changes at all but if nobody has any huge objections, I would suggest that this might maximise the potential of the challenge.

There would be no other changes to the set up.
Let me know your thoughts on this. I am happy to discuss it and if any of those individuals who have already started the challenge are deeply unhappy, then I will not implement the change.

Originally posted by Flashman's School Days:
And i was just wondering if i would be able to post my progress (if i get the time) in this thread?

Yes, I am sure we would be interested in a brief description of your past progress. It would be especially interesting to find out the potential for success in India.

However, I would rather hear of your progress in this challenge - why not try starting at the bottom of the Indian league with a newly promoted team, as this challenge suggests? With your knowledge of the Indian game, you might be able to do very well in the challenge.

Having thought about the challenge and, in particular, the level 3 and 4 part of it, I have been thinking of making a slight alteration to the rules regarding the current setup of the game for this challenge. I would like your opinion about my idea.

The idea is to allow the use of all of the professional leagues in the British half of the challenge, e.g. in England, the EPL, Championship, League One and League Two.

The reasons for this are the following:

1) This would allow an easier transition to English football for those beginning level 3. You could choose to continue building up your reputation in India, both at club and international level. Alternatively, you could decide to move to England/Scotland outside the top league and attempt to build up your reputation that way.

2) This would also allow the manager to better utilise feeder clubs and loan players to lower division clubs. I think this would be particularly useful when attempting to build an all British / Indian team. Having the lower leagues would enable you to send youth players down a few divisions for experience and perhaps you might be able to better improve the players this way.

This would not be mandatory but given as an option to those who felt that they would like to run the additional leagues in their chosen British league structure.

I would accept any selection of British professional leagues. For example, the user could just select EPL and Championship, or even just EPL.

For those who have already started the game with EPL only, for instance, there would be no need to restart the challenge.

I didn’t intend to make any rule changes at all but if nobody has any huge objections, I would suggest that this might maximise the potential of the challenge.

There would be no other changes to the set up.
Let me know your thoughts on this. I am happy to discuss it and if any of those individuals who have already started the challenge are deeply unhappy, then I will not implement the change.

Cheers guys,

C.

I think it's a pretty good idea. Making the challenge broader to see how well you can do in England with British only players and your Indian imports. Of course, i've already started so it's Premiership or bust for me! But having more English divisions gives a better chance for others.

Having thought about the challenge and, in particular, the level 3 and 4 part of it, I have been thinking of making a slight alteration to the rules regarding the current setup of the game for this challenge. I would like your opinion about my idea.

The idea is to allow the use of all of the professional leagues in the British half of the challenge, e.g. in England, the EPL, Championship, League One and League Two.

The reasons for this are the following:

1) This would allow an easier transition to English football for those beginning level 3. You could choose to continue building up your reputation in India, both at club and international level. Alternatively, you could decide to move to England/Scotland outside the top league and attempt to build up your reputation that way.

2) This would also allow the manager to better utilise feeder clubs and loan players to lower division clubs. I think this would be particularly useful when attempting to build an all British / Indian team. Having the lower leagues would enable you to send youth players down a few divisions for experience and perhaps you might be able to better improve the players this way.

This would not be mandatory but given as an option to those who felt that they would like to run the additional leagues in their chosen British league structure.

I would accept any selection of British professional leagues. For example, the user could just select EPL and Championship, or even just EPL.

For those who have already started the game with EPL only, for instance, there would be no need to restart the challenge.

I didn’t intend to make any rule changes at all but if nobody has any huge objections, I would suggest that this might maximise the potential of the challenge.

There would be no other changes to the set up.
Let me know your thoughts on this. I am happy to discuss it and if any of those individuals who have already started the challenge are deeply unhappy, then I will not implement the change.

Cheers guys,

C.

I think it's a pretty good idea. Making the challenge broader to see how well you can do in England with British only players and your Indian imports. Of course, i've already started so it's Premiership or bust for me! But having more English divisions gives a better chance for others. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I will wait to see what the opinions of the other challengers are.

What do you think Sidnv, Poolman321, Corinthiano, dan_simmonds, taifun ? Your opinions would be appreciated seeing as you have already started the challenge.

If you are all ok with it then I will make a request that the mods change the opening post to reflect this setup change.

Just started my second season with Mohammedan SC and things are looking good. Played 2, lost the first 2-1 and then won 3-0 thanks to a star performance from new signing Odafe Onyeka Okolie. Other new signing, centre-back Manju, has looked in good form so far.

As the transfer windw opened I has £300k to spend! Unfortunately, despite being able to negotiate prices for the league's best players, I have been unable to attract them to my relegation tipped side.

And a financial update for anyone interested, my bank balance stands at £1,757,272. A temporary cease in financial growth due to the lack of gate reciepts in the off-season. The board also forked out to improve both training and youth facilities. Hopefully a good run of form will help increase my attendances, which last season averaged 42,622.

On the other hand, part 1 of the challenge must be completed before going to part 3.
Otherwise it becomes and ordinary dull challenge of taking a club in Britain to the top flight and winning trophies there.

The indian part of the challenge is the real tough one. So we should only be allowed to go to england after winning a league title and AFc champions league with the indian club.

Originally posted by Gypsum:
Just lost 2-1 to local rivals Mohun Bagan in front of 60,082 fans. Most interestingly, my centre-back Manju scored the consolation goal FROM THE EDGE OF HIS OWN AREA! And the keeper was in his goal!

That's nothing!

I meant to post this earlier - my goalkeeper scored from his own area in a friendly match for New Delhi Heroes!

He kicked the ball long and I thought, 'yes great, it's going towards my striker - come on!'
However, my striker completely missed the ball and then the opposition keeper came slightly off his line to collect the ball but it looked like it bounced... and then it went over his head. A comedy moment and an absolutely bizarre goal!

I went on to lose 2-1 but it was only a friendly and what a goal from my keeper!

I'm all for the rule change. Actually I missed that rule all together so my game has England down to league 1 already :-)

First season closing up as we speak, and relegation seems unlikely. Managed to pick up two african midfielders (from Indian sides) just before the close of the transfer window and they've been vital (along with the crappiness of Kerala and Churchill)

Originally posted by Gypsum:
Don't you just love the quality of goalkeeping in India!

Not when my defender passes back to my keeper and he just watches it trickle past him into the empty net.

Seriously, the defending and goalkeeping is pretty awful.

I reckon I just need to build a tactic around a decent target man to have success in the Indian league. Most of the defences are awful in the air and have low bravery. A strong, brave, aggressive target man with good jumping would clear up and score loads!

A successfull season indeed. A slow start followed by a decent period just before and just after the christmas break earned us a fantastic sixth place finish in our debut season. Oh, and a 6-1 thrashing of JCT in the final meaningless game was just icing on the cake.

Full facts:
6th United SC 18-6-3-9 34-46 -12 21

East Bengal ran away with the league, Churchill Bros and Viva Kerala went down in flames.

Fun facts:
- Average attendance was 5125, but only thanks to the local derbies with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan pulling 25k and 17k respectively. The other games never eclipsed 4-500 people.
- A small profit was made, but still only 70K in the bank.
- A takeover was on and off for the entire season, and is still not done. Thankfully the numerous embargos missed the transfer window.
- Mahindra Utd won the Federation cup, Mohun Bagan won the Durand.
- Andrews Pomeiye of Mahindra won the golden boot scoring 19 goals in 18 games, picking up the player of the year award as well.

Originally posted by taifun: Chirag United Sports Club NFL 2008/09 Summary

A successfull season indeed. A slow start followed by a decent period just before and just after the christmas break earned us a fantastic sixth place finish in our debut season. Oh, and a 6-1 thrashing of JCT in the final meaningless game was just icing on the cake.

Full facts:
6th United SC 18-6-3-9 34-46 -12 21

East Bengal ran away with the league, Churchill Bros and Viva Kerala went down in flames.

Fun facts:
- Average attendance was 5125, but only thanks to the local derbies with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan pulling 25k and 17k respectively. The other games never eclipsed 4-500 people.
- A small profit was made, but still only 70K in the bank.
- A takeover was on and off for the entire season, and is still not done. Thankfully the numerous embargos missed the transfer window.
- Mahindra Utd won the Federation cup, Mohun Bagan won the Durand.
- Andrews Pomeiye of Mahindra won the golden boot scoring 19 goals in 18 games, picking up the player of the year award as well.

Nice update Taifun

Very impressed with your successful first season. Push on for a top half finish now!

My season started abysmally with a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Viva Kerala in the Fed Cup.
But none of my transfers have been done yet so there is hope. By adjusting budget i have quite a bit of cash.
But relegation is likely and for me a great season would be just to survive.
Another worrying thing is the attendance.
17 season tickets sold in a stadium of 15k.
Avg attendacne 100.
In all honesty though it is true to life.
I am slightly ashamed at this but i wouldn't go for a match of New Delhi Heroes even if someone paid me to.

I am also alright with the new rule, however I will not restart my challlenge as I am biulding quite a good side at Vasco. Looks like I went for the easiest team... oh well I m not very good at this game anyway so it wont make a difference